UK Muslims Slam Tories Handling of Party Islamophobia

LONDON - The Muslim Council of Britain has sent a second open letter to the Conservative Party criticizing it for neglecting an inquiry about rising Islamophobia in the party. Anadolu Agency reported on June 27. “Three weeks ago we wrote to you requesting an inquiry into Islamophobia within the Conservative party, sadly we have neither received an acknowledgement nor a reply,” began the letter, written by Harun Khan, the group’s head. “This lack of response is deeply disappointing given that we write as the largest umbrella body of Muslim organizations in the UK with over 1,000 mosques and Muslim institutions&hellip;

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LONDON – The Muslim Council of Britain has sent a second open letter to the Conservative Party criticizing it for neglecting an inquiry about rising Islamophobia in the party. Anadolu Agency reported on June 27.

“Three weeks ago we wrote to you requesting an inquiry into Islamophobia within the Conservative party, sadly we have neither received an acknowledgement nor a reply,” began the letter, written by Harun Khan, the group’s head.

“This lack of response is deeply disappointing given that we write as the largest umbrella body of Muslim organizations in the UK with over 1,000 mosques and Muslim institutions either affiliates or members of affiliates,” the letter added.

The letter argued that it seems “the extent of Islamophobia in the Conservatives is wider and deeper than originally set out”.

The letter presented examples such as: “there are claims that Cabinet Minister Michael Gove had ‘extreme’ views about Muslims”.

Also, an ethnic slur had been used to refer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a House of Lords member, at Tory meetings.

In addition, Khan mentioned that many Conservative party candidates such as Shazia Awan and Kushan Devani quit the party due to its extreme turn to the right.

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“Since we last wrote to you, other individuals have shared with us their stories of experiencing Islamophobia,” the letter said.“They are worried about taking their concerns to your party because it would be ‘political suicide’ or might endanger their relationship with their local MP,” the letter stated.

In May, the council sent a letter to the party calling it for an independent inquiry into Islamophobia among its officials.

The letter documented “weekly occurrences of Islamophobia in the party” and urged the Conservative leadership to take action against members who were explicitly Islamophobic.

That first letter encouraged calls for further inquiries about Islamophobic editorials in The Times of London and The Observer newspapers.